The Program Evaluation Center at Fredonia (PEC-F) is a partnership of the State University of New York at Fredonia and Chautauqua County's system of care initiative, Chautauqua Tapestry, to ensure that data outcomes are used to make the case for continuation, extinction of, or expansion of programs and processes by investigating what interventions work and in what circumstances in human services. Our efforts are led, to a large extent, by Patricia Brinkman, Director of Chautauqua County's Community Mental Hygiene Services.
Through partnerships with schools and mental health care agencies, the FPEC team supports and educates collaborators about evaluation methods while evaluating social work, educational, and mental health interventions being used.
The Program Evaluation Center at Fredonia was formed to enhance current research practice by building knowledge trajectories to ensure strategic and institutional change. Therefore, all work done is done reciprocally with partners in human service agencies within Chautauqua County and in other Counties in New York State to contribute to the way systems of care and other human services are evaluated.
Aims of The Program Evaluation Center at Fredonia are as follows:
- Build collaborations with and between practitioners, academics, families, youth, non-profit organizations, and other providers of social services;
- Provide a practical way to use existing data for evaluation practices;
- Encourage service providers to evaluate their own practices on an on-going basis through increased intra-agency knowledge;
- Increase the use of evaluation throughout the system of care to ensure the establishment of credibility of the interventions being utilized;
- Demonstrate effectiveness of evaluation practices in current interventions.
- Enhance public and private partnerships through planned strategies and leveraging opportunities.
The Program Evaluation Center has been created in partnership between SUNY Fredonia and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded Chautauqua Tapestry, with opportunities to develop evaluation strategies with all human services in the county and beyond.
Program Evaluation Center
Kevin P. Kearns, Ph.D. Director, Fredonia Program Evaluation Center State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia
Kevin P. Kearns is the Director of the Fredonia Program Evaluation Center, and Professor of Communication Disorders and Sciences at SUNY Fredonia. He has served in various academic, research, and administrative positions at the university including Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Vice President for Advancement, Engagement, and Economic Development; campus Operations Manager (chief research officer) for the SUNY Research Foundation, and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Research. He currently serves on the advisory boards of the Brooks - TLC Hospital System, the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, the Fredonia Technology Incubator, and the Research Advisory Council of the Educational Advisory Board (EAB; Washington, D.C.). Dr. Kearns previously held academic appointments at Northeastern University, the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGH-IHP), and the MIT-Harvard Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology (SHBT) program. He has published and lectured extensively in the areas of neurologically based communication disorders, clinical research designs, and the measurement of clinical outcomes.
Dr. Michael Clarkson-Hendrix is an Associate Professor of Social Work with the Department of Sociocultural and Justice Sciences at SUNY Fredonia. Dr. Clarkson-Hendrix holds a Master of Science in School Psychology from the College of Saint Rose and a Master of Social Work and Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare from the University at Albany. His research interests center on the intersection of behavioral health, disability, and workforce development. Dr. Clarkson-Hendrix is skilled in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research. Dr. Clarkson-Hendrix’s program evaluation experience includes projects assessing kinship navigation services, enhanced case management for women experiencing opioid addiction, and an MSW training initiative to address shortages of behavioral health providers for veterans and rural communities. He currently is serving as lead evaluator for Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene Department’s Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic – Improvement and Advancement grant. He also evaluated a cross-institutional addictions services leadership program funded through the Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene Department. Dr. ClarksonHendrix has over 10 years of practice experience in behavioral health and child welfare.
Lisa Denton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
SUNY Fredonia
Dr. Lisa Denton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at SUNY Fredonia. She earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University, with a concentration in Public Health. She completed her doctoral clinical internship at the University Counseling Center at Florida State University. At Fredonia, Dr. Denton teaches undergraduate coursework in Psychological Disorders and Counseling, and mentors students in Clinical Psychology research.
Dr. Denton’s research focuses on the impact of substance use on health outcomes, the use of substances during pregnancy, and the sharing of health information among expectant mothers. Her recent publications include studies on the safety of psychotropic medication use during pregnancy, and online message boards as platforms for peer health advice about prescription medications and cannabis. She has also published multiple studies on building and supporting successful group therapy programs in clinical settings.